PROBE: European Researchers' Night at Trinity College Dublin

ended

European Researchers’ Night has become one of the most well-known and important public engagement events since it was first introduced in 2005. Ireland’s leading university, Trinity College Dublin (TCD), has coordinated European Researchers’ Night events every year since 2013. Building on the success of the last two years in particular, Science Gallery Dublin and the School of Education at Trinity College, in partnership with the British Council in Ireland (BC), will host PROBE as part of European Researchers’ Night in 2018 and 2019. PROBE will connect researchers with members of the general public through a wide range of interactive and hands-on activities, with a focus on dialogue and participatory learning. PROBE will embrace the theme of cultural heritage to coincide with the European Year of Cultural Heritage, and will emphasise citizen science as an approach to co-creating research. PROBE will aim to challenge general perceptions of research, as well as stereotypes of researchers. The benefit of research to everyday life, the opportunities provided by research careers, and the role of the European Union will all be highlighted by PROBE events. Public engagement and communication training workshops will be offered to all MSCA-funded researchers, and research career showcase pre-events will provide direct contact between researchers and school students. The PROBE project team have extensive experience managing and delivering high-quality public engagement events, and in publishing their evaluations in peer-reviewed education and communication journals. PROBE is a project that will build on the success of previous iterations of European Researchers’ Night hosted by Trinity College Dublin and will be grounded in best practice.